Apps to Help Freelancers Be More Productive
Using productivity apps is an excellent way to boost your overall productivity and stay organized as a freelancer. Here’s a list of my five current faves, all of which are totally free. Give ’em a try and they’ll help you save time, money and stress. They might even boost your bottom line. Use the following apps to be more productive:
1. Evernote
If you haven’t yet heard of Evernote you’re in for a treat. It’s an online note-taking app that captures text, images and audio. Notes are searchable, taggable, and can be organized into folders by location or stand on their own. Evernote is available on your computer, the web, and every mobile device imaginable. The only place you can’t use it (yet) is in the shower.
2. Wunderlist 2
Wunderlist 2 is an awesome to-do list manager and collaboration tool. It’s very similar to Things, but it’s free and works on any Internet-connected device and syncs across multiple platforms using a Wunderlist account.
This powerful application is perfect for creating, editing, and organizing tasks. Use it to setup task lists and assign due dates, reminders, notes and sub-tasks. With Wunderlist you’ll never forget Mom’s birthday again and you’ll get your work done on schedule. This is one of those must-have apps that help freelancers be more productive.
3. Basecamp
Basecamp is the gold standard of online collaboration tools. I’ve used it in my own business and at a variety of agencies for years. The folks at 37 Signals have done a fantastic job on the interface and functionality. While it can get a bit unwieldy over time as you collect more and more documents and log comments about your documents, thankfully the search feature keeps things from getting too cumbersome.
4. Highrise
Highrise is web-based CRM tool from 37 signals that enables you to track every contact, conversation and task leading up to and beyond a sale. The free version lets you track up to 250 contacts and send yourself reminders to follow up with clients and prospects at the appropriate time. “Cases” help you organize all information associated with a contact. You can also track up to three “deals”, which is helpful for doing sales forecasts. Available as a monthly subscription, the paid version increases the total number of contacts, cases, deals and will give you 15GB of storage and up.
5. Freshbooks
Freshbooks is an online invoicing program that takes the sting out of accounting. The free version lets you create invoices for up to three clients within the system. If you need to invoice more than three customers within a 30-day period it’s $19.95 per month.
Beyond basic invoicing, Freshbooks is a full-blown small business accounting solution. It has an excellent time tracking tool and the ability to assign projects to other colleagues and sub-contractors. Its expanded reporting features help you keep an eye on revenue and expenses across your entire business. Like all the apps listed here, you can access Freshbooks from anywhere with an Internet connection. This will allow you to handle invoices quickly and easily, helping freelancers be more productive.
What Do You Think?
So now you have five awesome free apps to help you run your freelance business. Use them to track all of the great creative ideas you come up with, sell them to new clients, execute projects on time and on budget and then send a bill when everything is said and done.
What are your favorite productivity applications? What do you like or not like about the ones listed here? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
